The Grand Meister in the uniquely-patterned, shoulder-baring Lily-pattern Knight Armor of the Cleric Knights

Spoiler for Grand Meister Saber, Champion of the Kaiser:

Name: Grand Meister Saber Alias: N/AAge: 1,000++ (MC 0075)Birthday: 25-12Grade: Mage Class S+ (MC 0075)Hair: Blond, tied into a braid, and then tied into a loop around the back of her head in Belka tradition. Sometimes she wears it in a ponytail tied up by a black ribbon, and others just let it hang free.Eyes: Green. Her vessel was altered to be heterochromatic as a "Saint's Sign".

Personality: Serious, no-nonsense, and a very strict disciplinarian who demands exacting standards of those who serve the Light under her. Not with Stella though, preferring to let her run loose. Focused, fearless and decisive, plus often speaking in formalities, Saber is readily likened to a princess of Belka, and has many admirers from both genders in the Church.

Saber, like other Belka humanoid familiars used in Pilgrim Duels of old called Servants, is not forthcoming of her living identity. Her device is also hidden behind a powerful barrier that renders it invisible. But one can guess; she carries herself with a dignified air, is a confident rider, and her Ancient Belka swordcraft is unparalleled with anyone in the last 300 years. All of the point to her being a member of the Belka royal family.

She was first accidentally summoned by Kha during the illegal Pilgrim Duels in MC0071, when der Kleriker inadvertedly activated the Master's Runes his father inscribed onto him to bind the Tome of Dawn to Kha and save his life. Having been used to working solo, suddenly gaining a familiar, and a human one at that, did not sit well with Kha and often went on his own way to meet challenges. Saber herself wanted to fight, but her Master's attitude, and her contract To Live, repeatedly got in her way, much to her disgust.

As the Pilgrim Duels progressed, master and servant would find their tune, and Kha become strong enough to split Saber and her “sealed form” Stella. Due to the nature of her contract with Kha, she did not fade with the abrupt end of the Duel, and went on to help Kha’s assault on Kluize’s stronghold by defeating the daemon prince Dongrim.

Once it was over, Kha released Saber from her contract and let her choose her own destiny. She picked life, and would become the Grand Meister, the ultimate commander of the Cleric Knights. Her living experience came into use in matters of administration, and Saber cooperated with the Church in reinstating many of its shattered branches after the Duels, as well as the Licht von Belka.

Saber still disagrees with Kha on a host of issues, but she remains his loyal companion, along with the crazy “Sak-tan”, in the Church’s long road to recovery.

Spoiler for True Identity:

True Identity

The following are compiled details reveal piecemeal to Kha from dreams during the Pilgrim Duels:

Saber, like her master, goes by many names. In life, she was a shapeless program named “Sankt Kaiser Vivio” that resided in the Cradle as a defensive AI that sprang to the aid of a Kaiser if they were threatened in any way. Built with all of the Imperium’s knowledge about warfare, tactics, and weaponcraft, Vivio the Immortal Warrior King within Kings sat resolute aboard the Cradle for millennia, growing the Holy Belka Imperiallum from a small nation to a planetary empire to a dystopia spanning a thousand dimensions. In spiritual unison, she and the Kaiser were the ultimate weapon that could defeat entire armies, and aboard the Cradle, with the willing of the living Kaiser, rain a hail of death and destruction to all heathens who dare oppose the “Light”. Only the Schutzstaffel (SS), being the ones who tended to the supercomputers for generations, were privy of the secret of the Kaiser's true power, and were her puppet-masters.

Vivio remained their obedient toy and figurehead of the Belka empire, passed the rise, passed the Heresy and the destruction of Belka Capitalis, passed the colonization of Midchilda. For reasons still unclear, Vivio found herself knitted into flesh and bone, taking over as the Sankt Kaiser herself. She and her artificially augmented body brought even greater victories and spoils of war, her Second Founding of Belka expanding the reborn empire's borders to ranges never seen in centuries.

It would have continued if not till a song stirred her inside. As the Belka opera of “Gravelsong” details artistically, the Kaiser left the Cradle and rode through her kingdom amongst the stars, singing a song of lament and sorrow for her people trampled by war.

What actually happened, was that Vivio departed on her own volition for the first time without the SS’ command, and rode after the singer who sang the mournful song she heard drifting through the window. Inside the walls of New Antioch on Midchilda was a perfect utopia that covered the entire planet, an illusion enforced by the SS to let the Kaiser and their children believe that their actions for war were the prerequisite for the peaceful lives of their people. Vivio had been conditioned to think like that for millenniums.

Once she left Antioch aboard a container shuttle, the true state of the Imperiallum assailed Vivio. As she searched planet to planet for the singer, all she found were more and more oppressed individuals eking out a living on the dirt-cobbled alleys and streets polluted by war, crime and industry. Her efforts to right any situation were met with scorn from corrupt barons, and any action she took with her sword only got her in trouble with her own police force, manned by officers who had never set eyes on the real Kaiser.

For the first time in her long life, Vivio cried. She wandered the blackened worlds singing that same song she heard, her desire to tell that singer that she was wrong changed to one of thanking her for opening her eyes. Her people may have never seen her in person as well, but from the lyrics and the empathy she projected, they immediately knew, and thus this tale was written.

It did not cover how she ended her journey traumatically. She finally caught up with the singer, the tortured memories in an empty cell. The Kaiser was 200 years too late, and it broke her belief that she could save this woman, the Blau Glotten. Most of all, it tore the limiters on her mind free, revealing to her an even more shocking truth of herself.

In her earliest memories, one of the caretakers would always greet her as “Sakura Zaki”, and it puzzled her. As it turns out, Sakura was a girl who’s sin was her cursed birth from a union between a Belka knight and an Eldritch witch. However, it resulted in her having the remarkable magic powers of an Eldritch with the resilience of a Belka, a talent that would not escape the ears of the SS. At that time, the Cradle was failing from age and wear; the SS needed a new machine spirit to drive the ship, and they would need a soul of a very powerful individual. They then shortlisted all possible candidates, seeked out Sakura, captured her, and exorcised her mind and soul into the Tome of Dawn. This precursor of Project F was a painful process that drove her mad, and it took many months of psychic repair before Sakura was stable enough to be placed in the Cradle and given the false name of Vivio, beginning a cycle that would recur over and over.

With the limiters removed, Vivio imploded.

When she came to, she was back in the safety of Antioch and the Cradle, fully repaired and free of corruption. The arduous journey seemed to be a dream. But when she picked up her sword, it did not lie. Even though the retainers polished the blade till it sparkled like always, Sakura could see that it was still covered with the blood she spilled when she stabbed herself with it.

In time, she would end this heresy…

It was this last ruler of Belka who earned the Sankt Kaiser Vivio title that was recognized by all. She abandoned the Second Founding of Belka, launched her own campaigns against the adepts of Chaos embedded in her kingdom, and finally left on the suicide mission that resulted in the loss of the Cradle and her life. She mingled amongst the people even more, and had too found love, but she cast it aside to free Ordered Space from her cruelty, something that everyone else interpreted as her dying for the sins of Man.

Her one regret was that she was remembered a hero, when she was nothing more than a machine of evil. As she lingered on within the confines of the Tome of Dawn, she burned with the desire to go down fighting once and for all. Kha brought her to see herself as who she really was, and since then she seeks a new direction in life as custodian of the world she had fought for to be born.

How apt as well. The Cleric Knights of old received the magical seeds that permanently reinforced their bodies from the being within the Cradle, the Immortal Spirit of Kings. With Saber's return, despite being only knowledge of a few, this process of properly grooming new Cleric Knights could finally be resumed.

Photo Album

Spoiler for Warning: Explosive amount of pictures!!!:

Calmer times between Duels

One of the rare dresses Saber does wear.

Taken during the Spring Festival.

A service photo meant as a prank for Kha.

Saber, seen here in her pilot suit, is a natural rider, and can ride/drive any creature, vehicle or spacecraft.

Almost completely redid her fluff, this time going according to Keroko's suggestion and making Sakura the last King of Belka, as well as defensive AI of the Cradle that protected kings before (Reason why when the defense system takes over Vivio, it results in her going bonkers, since Jail band-aided the machine haphazardly in place of the missing AI).

The Immortal Spirit of Kings residing in a flying God-Machine... Perfect.

Also, her modern role as changed to that of Grand Meister of the Cleric Knights. This follows a change that turns all Cleric Knights female, which made more sense since all Adepta Belkarum are women, and that the Immortal Spirit of Kings is a "female" soul. Kha as a result is released back to Guard Dog duty, which he is waaay better at.

As befitting of the King, it covers the history of Belka, and so much more, including theories of the Sankt Kaiser from new hints in StrikerS and the SSX, tied to the progress of Lyrical magic by Lowe, and carries on the Belka story from Saga der Saga. It was one grand exercise, and hell it was hard, as it had to tie into every other piece of my expansive setting!

Not all details are included here (so that I have a story to tell if I get to Cente Gravia!) but there is enough details for you to get a grasp of who Saber is.

I do hope no one was offended by my mention of the Schutzstaffel; they are the villains in Belka history as well. But just in case I'll include this disclaimer, what with all this "hypersensitivity" to racial issues nowadays.

For those who can't take all the theories being stuffed down your throat, please take your time to enjoy the gigantic photo album of Saber.

But please, any constructive comments?

Changelog:

- Fixed her birth date: it's supposed to be 25-12, Christmas, or in Belka terms, Winter's Vale.
- Fixed her hairdo.
- Removed mentions of Saber having many lives (relic of the first version)